CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An 11-year-old boy was in a stable condition in hospital on Wednesday after he was mauled by a shark on the Great Barrier Reef off the Australian east coast, officials said.

The boy was attacked by a black tipped reef shark on Tuesday afternoon as he waded off a beach at the Heron Island tourist resort northeast of the coastal town of Gladstone, Queensland Ambulance Service paramedic Brad Lawson said.

Officials have not released the victim's name or commented on media reports that he is an Italian tourist on vacation with his family.

He sustained a significant injury to his right calf, ambulance service spokesman Krathyn White said.

The boy's father helped him from the water and took him to the resort's nurse who treated his wounds, Lawson said.

"The child is in quite good spirits. Quite happy, quite jovial," Lawson said.

The nurse and father accompanied the boy in a flight to Gladstone Hospital, Lawson said.

The boy's condition was stable, a hospital spokeswoman said. She declined to give her name, citing health department policy.

A man needed emergency surgery after being attacked by a shark up to 3m long.

The 31-year-old man was bitten on his arms and legs while swimming near Miall Island, off Yeppoon, just before midday on Saturday.

He suffered cuts to his legs and arms, including serious injury to his upper right arm, and was taken by ambulance to Rockhampton Hospital in a serious condition.

Queensland Ambulance Service senior operations supervisor Brad Miers said the man had been spearfishing and had speared a trout, which attracted a school of mackerel and then the shark, which was up to 3 metres long.

"The injuries he has sustained were from fighting off the shark," Miers said.

"It just so happened that the coast guard was in very close proximity.

Miers said the coast guard volunteers had given him first aid and saved his life.

He said the spearfisherman had lost a lot of blood and was in surgery at Rockhampton Hospital late on Saturday afternoon.

Miers said the incident was the first shark attack he had heard of in the Rockhampton region.

Helmut Nickel (mail), Shark Year Magazine,22. December 2015In the late afternoon of Monday (Dec.21), a man suffered severe injuries in a shark attack at Fernando de Noronha. It’s a small archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, located over 350 km (220 miles) offshore from the coast of Pernambuco in Brazil.The victim, a 33-years old tourist from Paraná, was reportedly diving in Baía do Sueste when the incident happened, which led to the amputation of his right forearm.He was promptly brought by his relatives to the local hospital São Lucas. Then, early on Tuesday morning (Dec.22), he was airlifted to a mainland hospital in Recife. The embedded video below shows the moment of the victim’s arrival at the Hospital da Restauração. His current condition is described as stable.

NARRATIVE: Graham Hurley had been in the water 45 minutes along with 11 others and was snorkeling on the surface. “The shark appeared swimming calmly on the bottom as it came around a rock wall corner and came in my direction” reported Hurley. “Then shark lunged toward me, grabbed my right flipper and pulled me vertical in the water.” The shark shook Hurley and attempted to submerge with him, but Hurley thrashed and the shark released his swim fin and dived to the bottom. “Then returned and bit my left calf. During the struggle, I inadvertently kicked shark in face with my free foot and the shark disappeared. The entire attack was observed by group’s naturalist who was less than five metres away.”INJURY: Two arcs of lacerations to left calf. No tissue lost.

Saturday, December 19A survivor of a shipwreck that occurred about thirty miles off the coast of Aruba was apparently attacked by a shark with fatal consequences. According to the article(s) which is written in Papiamento, a Venezuelan vessel with a crew of seven, carrying a cargo of whiskey from the island of Bonaire to Aruba, began to take on water as the result of rough seas and ended up sinking. After languishing at sea all day Saturday, four survivors of the shipwreck were found clinging to life hanging onto wooden pallets near an oil rig stationed off the coast of Aruba.Rescue operators from the island of Aruba arrived on scene and immediately called for a medivac helicopter when it became apparent that one of the survivors suffered a serious shark bite. The victim was airlifted to the airport in Oranjestad, Aruba where he was transported by ambulance to hospital, but he was deceased before they reached the hospital.*** no mention about the type of shark, size, etc., and if the bite happened near the spot where they were ...

News ReleaseU.S. Coast Guard11. December 2015———Coast Guard responds to reported shark bite victim in BahamasMIAMI —The Coast Guard is responding a report of a Bahamian man who was bitten by a shark 67 nautical miles southwest of Andros Island, Bahamas.The 26-year-old man was reportedly fishing aboard a 76-foot trawling boat when the incident occurred. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 7th District Command Center in Miami were notified through a satellite phone call made by another man aboard the vessel.A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew forward deployed the Atlantic Underwater Test and Evaluation Center on Andros Island is responding to the fishing vessel’s location.Source: US Coast Guard

There were two shark attacks in the waters off Palm Beach County, both happening yesterday.

Allen Engelman was surfing in the waters off Ocean Reef Park on Singer Island, when he says a Spinner shark clenched its teeth into his left hand. He grabbed the shark's fin with his right hand and the shark let go. He says it all happened in less than thirty seconds.

Engelman was treated for several lacerations at St. Mary's Medical Center.

Also, a woman was bitten by a shark off the coast of Palm Beach yesterday morning. She needed surgery at Good Samaritan Medical Center and 50 stitches after a shark bit her in the leg.

Experts say this is the time of year when we're most likely to see sharks off our coast. You are advised to swim in a group, don't go in the water with an open wound and don't wear shiny jewelry, as that is known to attract sharks.